Posted on 01/01/2006 6:41:58 PM PST by DAVEY CROCKETT
Weapons of Disruption
C 2006 Frederick J. Cowie, Ph.D.
Whereas we have no masses, it certainly would be seriously challenging to deliver a "weapon of mass destruction" in the vast majority of geographical areas in the American West, as well as in many areas in the East and South. For instance, Montana is approximately the size of Germany, yet the population hovers only around a million (we have one representative in the House). There is no "metropolitan" area anywhere around, though Spokane is about three hundred miles away. Wyoming has more sheep than people. Utah has Salt Lake City and a few nearby populous areas. Nevada has two populated regional areas, Las Vegas and Reno. North and South Dakota have, well, a few folks here and there. Idaho folks are few and far between. I swear you can drive from San Antonio to El Paso without seeing a city policeman, because I've done it several times. Then there are Arizona, New Mexico, eastern California, inter alia. The point is we have a few population points, while the rest of the states are empty excepted for isolated small communities.Thus, out West we probably need to talk more about "weapons of disruption." (Some folks say "weapons of mass disruption," but we have no masses!)
You must ask yourself: What would I do if I were a terrorist (or a terrorism preparedness instructor) looking into the ramifications of launching a rural terrorism attack? Personally, I would concentrate on considering the consequences of disruption rather than mass destruction. Here are a few scenarios you might want consider when your local rural emergency management/response group gathers to discuss terrorism exercises.
1) Wildland Fire Incidents: Incendiary (mostly wildland) warfare has been used by military strategists for at least 2500 years, over a thousand years before the use of gunpowder. The western U.S. is disrupted, seriously disrupted, every year by wildland fires. Quite a few are started by humans, accidentally and purposefully. Starting dozens of major fires in a dozen western states could be a brilliant line of attack if militants wished to disrupt America. Thousands of security personnel could do nothing and the perpetrator/s would probably never be implicated, much less captured. Are you prepared?
2) Railroad Chemical Incidents: Many railroad main lines go through tunnels. A few strategically placed armor-piercing shells in a series of chlorine cars, along with appropriately staged derailments leaving the leaking cars in the tunnels, could shut down many main line routes in the West. Spin-off scenarios are numerous. Ready?
3) Flammable Liquid Incidents: Bridges are not easily brought down from below and approaches to bridge support structures are often highly visible and randomly monitored. However, on CNN we all have seen many tanker truck accidents involving burning hydrocarbons which have made bridge structures unusable. How hard would it be to have a few terrorists steal trucks and drive them (as opposed to hijacking planes and flying them) to strategic bridges over wide rivers or narrow gorges, ignite the gasoline (or diesel or crude), block the approaches with other incendiary or chemical releases, and make the structures extremely dangerous and impassible to highway traffic? Gotcha!
There are many variations of these themes. You probably have or can make up many more plausible, novel, and easily implemented rural-specific attack scenarios. Design exercises around them. If you want to stop terrorist events you must think like a terrorist and quit fighting last year's war!
Peace, thanks, Fred
Please check out my website at fredcowie.com
To find recent presentations, Google (with quotation marks) "Fred Cowie"
Frederick J. (Fred) Cowie, Ph.D. E-mail: fredcowie@aol.com Phone: (24 hr cell) 406-431-3531 Website: fredcowie.com
What is a promed alert? Never had one of these! Do I need one?
Davey, give hubby a sleeping pill, and get on his computer and listen to Gunny Bob on the computer.
850koa.com
It is all mexican border.
the senator Allard this morning, had a mexican flag on his official congress website..........gunny bob phoned and it was taken down while he was on the phone.
The office said that "an outside site" built the website.
Gunny Bob is hot and naming the senators, who refuse to come
on his program, after he called with questions on how they were voting......on the closing of the border.
Listen to him, it is worth it tonight.
I dont know what post is it?<<<<<>>>>>
LOL.....if I knew that, I wouldn't have had to ask.....LOL
I think it was baby formula and or milk or baby food, in fact it was, in
Texas stores, West Coast Gal, said she didn't shop there.
Yes you need promedmail.org.
It hurts my arms to put in all the breaks those <-P>.
They put out reports on all the world diseases, for animals,
people and plants.
It is what i post on the bird flu and maybe a day or so ago
one on measles in england.
It will shock you at what is going on around the world,
I think you just posted the bird flu from the WHO info, that is the Promedmail.org group.
Yesterday it was measles in England and Scotland, today there is one with the headline for measles in Venezuela.
Hacker hits Georgia state database via hole in security software
Confidential information on more than 570,000 people exposed
When it comes to information security these days, most organizations remain in a tenuous position. Despite their best efforts, enterprises continue to be successfully ...
News Story by Jaikumar Vijayan
MARCH 30, 2006 (COMPUTERWORLD) - An unpatched flaw in a widely used security program was exploited by an unknown hacker to gain access to a Georgia Technology Authority (GTA) database containing confidential information on more than 570,000 members of the states pension plans.
The intrusion occurred sometime between Feb. 21 and Feb. 23 and involved a hacker who used sophisticated hacking tools to break through several layers of security after accessing the server hosting the database via the software flaw, said Joyce Goldberg, a GTA spokeswoman.
Goldberg refused to name the security vendor whose software was exploited, citing an ongoing investigation. She added, however, that the vulnerability exploited by the hacker had already been publicly disclosed by the vendor,
http://story.atlantaleader.com/p.x/ct/9/id/5d7fc4d89214322c/cid/9716d7590cce49d4/
She needs to be careful.....
Muslim discontent awaits Rice tour Friday March 31, 04:51 AM
LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will face protests and Muslim resentment over the Iraq war when she visits northern England this week.
Rice arrived on Thursday night at John Lennon Airport in Liverpool. The Stop The War coalition has said it will demonstrate against the Iraq war everywhere Rice goes.
She will travel to Foreign Secretary
Advertisement
Jack Straw's home town of Blackburn where 20 percent of the population is Muslim and speak on U.S. foreign policy in Blackburn Rovers' football stadium.
Rice had been scheduled to visit a mosque in the city until the invitation was withdrawn on Wednesday. No one at the Masjid al Hidayah mosque was available for comment but the Foreign Office confirmed the cancellation, saying it was a pity.
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), the largest lobby group for the country's 1.6 million Muslims, said there was widespread opposition to U.S. foreign policy and Rice's visit.
"This particular U.S. administration has upset many Muslims in the UK and around the world ... so it is not particularly surprising that the visit to a Blackburn mosque has had to be cancelled," MCB spokesman Inayat Bunglawala said.
Her visit follows Straw's trip to Rice's home state of Alabama last October when the pair engaged in round of high profile photo opportunities.
Rice flew into Britain from Paris and, before that, Berlin, where she discussed Iran's nuclear programme with officials from Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China.
HISTORIC LINKS
The Stop The War coalition statement said the cancellation of the mosque trip was "evidence that the bulk of the community, Muslim and otherwise, are strongly against the visit".
While in Liverpool, Rice will attend a concert and visit the maritime museum, steeped in the history of travel and trade between Britain and the United States.
Both countries have made much of the historic links between the southern United States and northern England during the industrial revolution, when American cotton was imported through Liverpool to Blackburn, where it was woven into cloth.
At the height of the trade, there were 140 cotton mills in Blackburn, which has since been blighted by post-industrial malaise.
The two-day visit will also give Rice a chance to indulge her passion for The Beatles.
Not only will she visit the band's home city, she will also see the town which inspired one of their more curious lyrics.
"I heard the news today, oh boy. 4,000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire," run the words from the song "A Day in the Life". John Lennon wrote the words after seeing a newspaper headline about the poor state of roads in Blackburn.
"I never understood that Beatles song," Rice said earlier this month when asked about her forthcoming trip. "Perhaps now I'll get the chance."
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/31032006/325/muslim-discontent-awaits-rice-tour.html
US charges 19 with selling smuggled cigarettes to aid Hezbollah Wed Mar 29, 7:03 PM ET
CHICAGO (AFP) - US prosecutors have charged 19 people with trafficking in smuggled cigarettes and other contraband and using some of the profits to aid designated terrorist organization Hezbollah.
The indictment, which was unsealed Wednesday following the arrest of nine people in Michigan and Canada, alleges that a Dearborn, Michigan man ran a multi-million dollar a year contraband cigarette trafficking organization which also dealt in stolen and counterfeit goods.
Some members of the enterprise charged a "Resistance Tax", a set amount over the black market price of contraband cigarettes, which their customers were told would go to Hezbollah, the justice department said in a statement.
The US has officially labelled the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah a terror organization.
The traffickers also solicited money from cigarette customers for the orphans of martyrs program run by Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon to support the families of persons killed in Hezbollah suicide and other operations, the statement said.
"Fighting terrorism and keeping our citizens safe from its reach are the number one priorities of this office," US Attorney Stephen Murphy said in a statement.
"We will use all of the legal tools available to us to disrupt criminal activity that funds terrorist organizations."
The enterprise operated from Lebanon, Canada, China, Brazil, Paraguay and the United States, and its members were bound together by their shared Lebanese heritage, blood relations, allegiance to Hezbollah and "a common purpose of generating large sums of cash illegally," the indictment said.
The criminal organization operated between 1996 and 2002. One leader pleaded guilty in 2003 in federal district court in Detroit to racketeering and providing material support to Hezbollah.
He was not named in the latest indictment, which was returned by a federal grand jury on April 14, 2004 and was sealed pursuant until Wednesday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060330/ts_alt_afp/uscanadalebanon_060330000329
I don't know your lady host, but Savage is really right on the point, or he is flat nuts.
Those callers, will stretch your mind, I get shocked at some of the thinking.
When you listen to them give the "talking points of the day" from some commie site, you want to throw things.
They hire the "seminar" callers to do nothing but sit and call the talk shows.
citing an ongoing investigation. She added, however, that
the vulnerability exploited by the hacker had already been publicly
disclosed by the vendor, <<<<
Now that rings bells........
The company in warning the users of the program, also alerted a hacker how to get in......
Damned if you do and damned if you don't.
Did they use that hole to post jihadi sites?
Sorry, I think that was funny, when they used the Arkansas
site for jihadi websites, wasn't that 007? I think so.
The Stop The War coalition statement said the cancellation of the
mosque trip was "evidence that the bulk of the community, Muslim
and otherwise, are strongly against the visit". <<<
The stop the war group, will be a communist group.
another tie to the muslims.
For those who think we beat the communists, they only need
to look at the muslim and mexico protests.
Yes, the Rice visit is a danger........
So is the Bush visit to Mexico.
Iranian quake kills at least 10, injures 263-TV
Fri Mar 31, 2006 5:20 AM GMT
Printer Friendly | Email Article | RSS
TEHRAN (Reuters) - At least 10 people were killed and 263 injured when an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 hit an area in western Iran on Friday, state television reported.
The television reporter said 10 dead had been taken to two hospitals in Boroujerd, a city in the area where the quake struck. Earlier, the official IRNA news agency said at least two dead were taken to a hospital in Doroud, in the same area.
"Some 30 to 40 villages between Doroud and Boroujerd have been damaged between 10 and 90 percent," the television reporter said, without citing his source.
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-03-31T042015Z_01_L3174230_RTRUKOC_0_UK-QUAKE-IRAN-DEAD.xml
Don't miss this thread if it last...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1606530/posts?q=1&&page=801
I will always wonder if testing the bombs, is the reason for the earth quakes?
Maybe.
Cause and effect.
Have you read the thread about Jill's return and her statements, Laura Mansfield wrote it and also a second article in post 29. The comments are all worth reading, as there are several opinions there....
granny
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1606615/posts?page=29
Transcript of the "Mujahideen of Iraq" with
American hostage Jill Carroll
http://www.lauramansfield.com ^ | March 30, 2006 | mujahideen of Iraq
Posted on 03/30/2006 9:52:52 PM MST by Calpernia
The following is a trancript of the video released this morning on the
internet by the "Mujahideen of Iraq", showing a pre-release interview
that the jihadis did with American hostage Jill Carroll.
The interview, conducted in English except for a brief portion at the
end, can be downloaded from
http://www.lauramansfield.com/j/jolkorl2.rm
Male speaker: Dear Carroll. We are from the mujahideen in Iraq.
(Jill Carroll nods her head)
Male speaker: Please we want to ask you some questions.
Jill Carroll: mmmK
Male speaker: How did the mujahideen treat you?
Jill Carroll: They treated me very well, they treated me very well. Like
a guest. I was given very good food, kept very safe, treated very, very
well,"
Male speaker: Did you think the American army or the CIA would save
you at any time?
Jill Carroll: I thought maybe they might. Sometimes I thought maybe
that they might come, they might find me, they might find a way to
know where I am and come, and come get me. I did think maybe they
might.
Male speaker: Why did not they save you?
Jill Carroll: Well, I think the mujahideen are very, are very, are very
smart and even with all the technology and even with all technologies
and all the people that the American army has here, they still are
better at knowing how to live and work here, and more clever, despite
all the technology of the American army, they are still more clever,
and better at being here than the American army, they are still better
at what they do.
Male speaker: Does this mean anything to you?
Jill Carroll: Well I think it makes it very clear that the mujahideen are
the ones that will win in the end, in this war, I think it makes it very
clear that even with thousands of troops and airplanes and tanks and
guns that that doesn't mean anything here on the ground in Iraq, I
think it shows over time, over time, maybe, however many months
are left in the Iraqi occupation, that its pretty clear that the
mujahideen are the ones that will have the victory at the end of the
day. It shows that no matter what the Americans try to say is
happening here, or try to do with all there weapons, they are
mistaken, the are not going to be able to stop the mujahideen here in
Iraq.
Male speaker: What will you tell the American people about the
mujahideen when you go back to America?
Jill Carroll: Well, first of all I want them to understand the mujahideen
truly. There are a lot of lies that come out of the American
government calling the mujahideen terrorists, I think it is important
that the American people hear from me that the mujahideen are only
trying to defend their country, it's only a jihad to stop an illegal and
dangerous and deadly occupation. I think its important to see that the
mujahideen are people like we've seen throughout history resisting an
occupation, trying to fight a foreign force in their land. It's their
country and they have a right to fight for their own freedom. So I
think, I want people to understand that. That its not people that like to
kill, not people that like violence, but people that love their country,
and that want to see their country free of occupation.
And also I want them to understand that the situation in Iraq in
general, how difficult it is here. People don't have electricity, they
don't have water. Children don't have good safe streets to walk in.
Women and children are always in danger here. Houses are always
destroyed. People are killed left and right in the street without any
reason, people die every day from the bombings and the shootings
that go on and all these things, so I think people need to understand
in American how difficult life is here for normal average Iraqis, how
every day is a matter of survival, life or death for most Iraqis and
thousands and thousands and tens of thousands of Iraqis have lot
their lives here because of the occupation. I think Americans need to
think about that and realize day to day how difficult life is how
terrifying it is for most people to live here every day under the
occupation.
Male speaker: Do you have a message for Mr. Bush.
Jill Carroll: (smiles, laughs, and nods her head) Yeah. He needs to
stop this war. He knows this war is wrong He knows it was illegal from
the very beginning. He knows that it is built on a mountain of lies and
I think he needs to finally admit that to the American people and make
the troops go home. And he doesn't care about his own people and he
doesn't care about the people here in Iraq. He needs to wake up and
the people in America need to wake up and tell him what he's done
here is wrong so hopefully somehow he'll get the message that this
war is wrong, that this continued occupation is wrong. That he can
change his policies. It's as dangerous for Iraqis as it is for Americans
and he needs to accept it and admit that to the people.
Male speaker: You have said the Mujahideen will win the war against
the American army.
Jill Carroll: Oh definitely, definitely. It is very clear to see even now
they are already winning every day there are soldiers killed, every day
humvees blown up, helicopters are shot down every day, it is very
clear the mujahideen have the skills and the ability and the desire and
the good reasons to fight and for sure they will win.
Male speaker: What do you feel now that the mujahideen are giving
you your freedom while there are still women in Abu Ghraib living in
very bad situations.
Jill Carroll: Well, I feel guilty honestly. I've been here, treated very
well, like a guest. I've been given good food, never, never hurt while
those women are in Abu Ghraib. Terrible things are happening to them
with the American soldiers are torturing them and other things I don't
want, I can't even say, so I feel guilty and I also feels it shows the
difference between the mujahideen and Americans, the mujahideen
are merciful and kind that's why I'm free and alive. The American
army they aren't. I feel guilty and I also feel that it just shows that
mujahideen are good people, fighting an honorable fight, a good fight
while the Americans are here as an occupying force treating the
people in a very, very bad way so I can't be happy totally for my
freedom, there are people still suffering in prisons and very difficult
situations.
It shows the difference between the mujahideen and the Americans, it
shows the mujahedeen are good people fighting an honourable fight
while the Americans are here as an occupying force treating the
people in a very bad way
words are used on several communist sites.
http://www.google.com/search?client=googlet&q=lies%20that%20come%20out%20of%20the%20American%20%0D%0A%20government%20calling%20the%20mujahideen%20terrorists
So many of these words that Jill said, I have read or heard before, from the looks of it, I must be hearing the commies say them on the radio talk shows.
There are several on this page to look at, including a Padilla interview....about nuclear.
http://www.google.com/search?q=Well,+I+think+the+mujahideen+are+very,+are+very,+are+very+%0D%0A+smart+and+even+with+all+the+&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&client=googlet&start=10&sa=N
Vel the 5 guys in the hospital, bombs and the Queen.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1606576/posts
Four held in royal visit 'terror' alert [Attempt to
bomb the British Queen?}
The Daily Telegraph (UK) ^ | March 31, 2006 | By Nick Britten
Posted on 03/30/2006 8:23:39 PM MST by aculeus
Four men were being questioned last night under the Terrorism Act
after being arrested in a town 36 hours before a visit by the Queen.
Buckingham Palace said that the royal visit to Stafford this morning
will go ahead as planned, despite the security scare.
Armed police swooped on Stafford General Hospital on Wednesday
night after a 28-year-old man was taken in with what nurses believed
were injuries related to bomb-making equipment. They were also
concerned that four men who visited him were acting suspiciously.
As police surrounded the accident and emergency unit, the four
attempted to flee but were caught 100 yards from the main entrance.
No shots were fired.
The men, aged 24, 26, 27 and 30, were taken to a police station in
Staffordshire for questioning while the patient was removed to
Nottingham City Hospital, where he remained seriously ill.
He was under armed guard and tests were being carried out on him to
establish the exact nature of his injuries. A Staffordshire police
spokesman said: "We were contacted last night by staff at the hospital
who developed concerns about the 28-year-old who had been taken
there for treatment yesterday afternoon.
''There were concerns about the nature of his illness and what they
felt was the suspicious behaviour of four men with him."
He said police were piecing together "the full train of events", but said
there was "no evidence that a terrorist incident has taken place nor
that there is any specific threat to the area". The force was liaising
closely with the Anti-Terrorist Branch in London. They were also
keeping Buckingham Palace closely in touch with the inquiry.
One police officer said that the incident had "set nerves jangling".
It was unclear last night whether security will be tightened further,
especially as the Queen and Prince Philip are due to chat with
members of the public in the market square during a walkabout as
part of their visit to commemorate the town's 800th anniversary.
Information appearing on telegraph.co.uk is the copyright of
Telegraph Group Limited and must not be reproduced in any medium
without licence. For the full copyright statement see Copyright
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1606665/posts
Virgin Mary tombstones full of drugs
CNN ^
Posted on 03/31/2006 1:23:00 AM MST by Avenger
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal agents on Thursday said they had
broken up a ring of drug smugglers who used tombstones featuring
the Virgin Mary to move hundreds of pounds of cocaine into the United
States from Mexico.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Gas leak linked to explosion
Rocky Mountain News - Denver,CO,USA
By Rocky Mountain News. A natural gas leak is suspected in an explosion that
destroyed two Winter Park town homes and damaged a third this morning. ...
See all stories on this topic
http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&hl=en&client=google&ncl=http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4583606,00.html
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